


Subversive Political Activity for Beginners

by whoami (davidbowie)



Series: Bangtan Meets the Gaang [4]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-03-01 19:49:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13301982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/davidbowie/pseuds/whoami
Summary: Whatever Namjoon had expected of a secret society operating under the Grand Secretariat's nose, it probably wasn't this.





	Subversive Political Activity for Beginners

Namjoon looked around the crowded hall apprehensively. There were more Dai Li than usual scattered amongst the guests and lurking in the corners of the large ballroom. Was that because of the many high profile guests who had come to celebrate the Earth King's bear's birthday, or because they suspected something?

Namjoon held back a snort. The Dai Li were always suspecting something. There was a lot to suspect, in a city like Ba Sing Se.

Ba Sing Se was equal in area to a third of the Fire Nation archipelago, and estimates put Ba Sing Se's population closer to half again as large as the entire population of the Fire Nation. That many people, packed in that close, with the kind of thought policing practiced within the walls...Ba Sing Se was a hotbed of secret meetings and hushed exchanges, where everybody was constantly looking over their shoulders, living in fear of the Grand Secretariat and his secret police.

Namjoon shook himself out of his dark thoughts. He needed to stay in the present if he wanted to discover the source of the mysterious note he had found in his purse last month.

He looked around the party as nonchalantly as he could manage, wondering which of his fellow guests was the "contact" who would "be in touch." They had explicitly said that they would approach him, but he couldn't seem to help himself from searching the crowd for likely candidates. Was it the very fat lady in the dress that had been fashionable two decades ago? The old man in dark green, who had lurked near the back wall for the entire party? Perhaps the tall man with his long hair in a neat queue-

Namjoon froze, crab puff falling out of his mouth before he recovered himself and turned around hurridly, colliding with a servant holding a pitcher of wine. The Grand Secretariat was at this party?

'Well,' Namjoon admitted, muttering apologies to the servant who was now somewhat soaked in rice wine, 'of course he's here. But he's here openly, as a guest?'

Did this mean the meeting was off? Would a member of a secret and subversive organization really go through with a recruitment meeting with the Grand Secretariat in the same room?

'Maybe that's why he's here,' Namjoon thought darkly, glancing toward the Grand Secretariat as subtly as he could. 'Maybe he knows that there are dissidents here and he's here to silence us-'

Namjoon was abruptly distracted by a large gust of wind coming from the center of the ballroom. "I didn't know the Avatar would be here!" he heard a woman say, triggering a wave of whispers and frantic questions.

So the Avatar was at the party for the Earth King's bear as well. Was there anybody who didn't have a radical political agenda at this party? 'I suppose the Fire Lord will be arriving fashionably late any time now,' Namjoon thought crossly. Namjoon was supposed to be flying under the radar of the Dai Li, so should he avoid the Avatar (who was no doubt being watched closely) or should he move closer (to blend in with the crowd)?

The choice was soon taken from him. As the Avatar ran at the Earth King, Namjoon saw Dai Li agents begin moving. He tensed, but no rock gloves clamped around his mouth, and as the Earth King was carried away, the Grand Secretariat invited the Avatar to a private audience.

Namjoon was sure the sweat would show through his robes soon. So the Dai Li (and their leader) had been here for the Avatar. That...made sense, really. Namjoon was, as far as anyone knew, simply a student of history at Ba Sing Se University, the son of a nobleman who didn't hold any views in particular besides the ones he was expected to. 

In truth, he wasn't much more than that. He had seen that there was something wrong in Ba Sing Se, of course, how could you miss it? But he hadn't known what to do or how to fight back. He heard about the rampant poverty and hunger in the Lower Ring, the result of too many refugees immigrating in a constant stream. Refugees from what, no one was allowed to say. So Namjoon hadn't said. He diligently attended to his studies, willfully ignoring what he could and distracting himself from the rest.

Then, the unthinkable. The catalyst that had sent him on this path, to secret meetings and seditious action.

His best friend had been taken.

Namjoon had scoured every corner of the Upper Ring, questioned every shop keeper and carriage driver, anyone who might have seen him. But they all avoided his eyes, pleading ignorance, and Namjoon knew that Yaozu wouldn't be coming back.

He began seeking out others like him, then. Those who had seen the injustices of the city and who couldn't quietly stand by anymore. Those who raged against the oppression in Ba Sing Se, who cried out for justice for those who went quietly missing, never to be seen again. Who wept for those few who returned, happily chattering about Lake Laogai, who were fundamentally changed, hollow inside and smiling emptily.

Namjoon had been cautious in his actions against the Grand Secretariat. Some small good, he reasoned, was better than never doing any good ever again because he had showed too much of his hand.

The mission at the Middle Ring main market had gone...a little pear-shaped, Namjoon would admit, but he had made it out in time and his alibi had held. There was nothing that could connect him to the explosion, nobody who had recognized him. 

Or so he had thought. He had almost passed out when he found the note secreted away in his purse later that day, complimenting his enthusiasm for justice and offering to connect him to a network of similar-minded people. He had never even noticed anyone touching his bag, let alone slipping an elegantly tied scroll into his purse.

Although there was a risk of the proposed meeting being a set up, Namjoon highly doubted it. After all, the Grand Secretariat didn't need any excuse to disappear you. If he suspected Namjoon of being involved in the Middle Ring Market fiasco, he wouldn't bother to set an elaborate ambush, he'd just take him quietly in the night.

So Namjoon had accepted the Earth King's invitation to his bear's party. Now he stood, waiting for his contact to approach him. (Or, said a small voice in the back of Namjoon's head, for the Dai Li to snatch you.)

Someone poked him in the back. Namjoon jumped, tripping over his hem as he attempted to spin around. He looked up from the floor to see an old woman, older than his grandmother, looking at him in confusion.

"Are you alright?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Namjoon scrambled up, attempting to straighten his crooked ru jin and untangle his robes at the same time. He determinedly ignored the heat spreading across his face as he replied, "Yes, thank you. May I be of some help to you?"

"I hope so." She quirked her eyebrow at him again. "I seem to have lost my string of beads."

Namjoon's heart, which had just recovered from his surprise, suddenly picked up speed again. "Have you looked in the places that the Moon's shadow hides?"

She smiled. "There we see that which we wish to see instead of what is." Namjoon smiled back tentatively. "It is good to meet you, Scholar Kim Namjoon. Unfortunately, we cannot finish our conversation here, but it would please me greatly if you would join me for tea at the Folding Lotus Tea House, two days from now."

Namjoon nodded rapidly. "Of course, I would be honored to take tea with you," he searched fruitlessly for a name before finishing, "honored elder."

Her eyes twinkled at him, and Namjoon felt as if he had passed some test. "I am delighted to hear it," she said. "As a token of my gratitude, please, take this."

Namjoon extended both hands to receive- was that a Pai Sho tile?

"The white lotus," he said, examining the tile closely.

"Indeed. Are you familiar with the White Lotus Gambit?"

Namjoon furrowed his brow, wracking his memory. "I think I've read about it, but I'm not sure exactly what it entails."

The woman patted him on the shoulder lightly. "I'd suggest you brush up on your Pai Sho. The Folding Lotus has a gambling parlor, and I play to win."

Namjoon stared blankly. "I...see?" He didn't see. Was that a euphemism for some seditious activity?

She smiled at him, eyes twinkling again. "I find it is always best to mix business with pleasure, and I take great pleasure in beating young people at Pai Sho."

Namjoon paused for a long moment before laughing awkwardly, not sure how to respond.

Her smile had grown in the face of his discomfort. "Ask for Gan Jun at the Folding Lotus, two days from now. Do not forget," she admonished, folding her hands into her sleeves and fixing him with a severe look that was somewhat at odds with the amused smile still curling the corners of her mouth.

"I won't," Namjoon promised. He looked around the party, still buzzing with the excitement of the Avatar's appearance. "So," he began, but the woman - Gan Jun? - cut him off.

"I am not as young as I once was. I think it's high time for me to be in bed, especially after such an," her lips quirked before she continued, "exciting evening."

Namjoon bowed, relieved that the confusing conversation was over. "I wish you a peaceful evening and hope to find you well in two days time."

"Thank you. I think it will be a most enjoyable afternoon." With that somewhat threatening statement, she left, weaving her way expertly through the crowd until Namjoon lost sight of her short frame amid the various guests.

It would probably be suspicious for the two of them to leave the party at the same time. Namjoon looked around, at a loss for what to do with himself.

He had hardly eaten earlier in the evening, too nervous about his meeting and then the presence of the Grand Secretariat and then the appearance of the Avatar. 

"Excuse me," he called, flagging down a servant, "are there any pork dumplings left?"

He needed to be in his best health in order to match wits with his contact, after all. Maybe if he did well enough, she'd even tell him her real name. 

Namjoon smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> is namjoon an earthbender? is he just nobility?? who knows???


End file.
